Let be the set of all tuples , where for each . The set is said to be decreasing if for each any satisfying () also belongs to . The set is said to be increasing if for each any satisfying () also belongs to . Find the maximal possible value of , where and are nonempty decreasing and increasing sets ( denotes the number of elements of the set).
Solution
The answer is .
Let us treat more general case when is the set of all tuples. If then
. We prove that by induction over .
. Suppose that , . Then , , and .
Suppose that the statement is correct for . Let , where elements of the set are obtained from elements of having last entry by removing this last entry. By definitions and . Let , where elements of the set are obtained from elements of having last entry by removing this last entry. By definitions and . Now
(The first inequality is valid due to inductive hypothesis, the second inequality is the Chebyshev's rearrangement inequality). Done.
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